It was easy to see how nothing would ever be the same again. One simple yet monumental move, and we were irreversibly linked together. It was obvious that Edward sensed it, as he stilled above me and went no further.

“Edward. See the way the moon has wrapped her cloak around us?” I brushed my hands through his hair, twisted my fingers at the nape of his neck. “I want to lay beside you, skin on skin, and make love until the sun comes up. Please, don't stop what we’ve just started.”

His head thumped to my chest, and I heard the intake of breath, felt the further hardening of what I thought was already made of steel. The smooth head of his cock was pressed to my entrance, and I couldn’t be more ready. I grasped his hips in my hands, urging him to complete us. Finally, I pulled his face to mine, capturing his lips in a crushing kiss that would have bruised a lesser man. My tongue stroked in and out of his mouth, an imitation of what I wanted, needed, from him. He groaned, his breath exchanging with mine, before he pushed inside my body with a hiss.

I cried out, in pain and in shock. I had to hold him motionless against me to give myself time to grow accustomed to the invasion.

“Christ, Bella. It’s not like anything I expected. Nothing at all,” Edward murmured. “Are you alright?” he asked, tenderly brushing sweaty hair out of my face.

“I think so. It- it hurt, but… I think it’s going away.” Fuck, how did people do this with anyone less than their mate? It was right about that time that I discovered I was especially grateful for my ability to heal quickly.

“I want to move, Bella. More than anything. Please tell me if I hurt you.” His voice was tense, the muscles of his throat pulled tight as he strained for control.

“I can handle it.” I pushed at his hips, urging him to move. He slid out, pausing as though to concentrate, before sliding back in. Arching to meet his thrust, I realized I needed more from him.

“Touch me, Edward. Please, touch me.” I didn’t even recognize the neediness in my voice as it rushed out.

“Where?” he asked huskily in my ear.

“Everywhere!” I begged.

He shifted, putting his weight on his knees, and looked down at me with eyes as black as the night sky. His hands stroked over my breasts, down my quivering belly, and found where I was throbbing for him. When Edward touched those long fingers to my clit, I cried out as my body responded, trembling and clenching in anticipation of something I couldn't yet name. He shifted again, using hands and mouth and cock in tandem, until I was a writhing mass of need under him. My nipples were so sensitive as his tongue swirled around each of them that desire shot from my breasts to my core. His fingers had found a rhythm, and so had his hips, until I cried out his name as everything coalesced and that coil snapped.

And then it was my name-- my name-- that was a fragile bubble trembling on his lips before it burst.

I was sweating underneath him when he rested his weight temporarily on top of mine. It was thrilling to feel that masculine domination, however brief. He rolled, stretching out beside me, and I turned to him in order to curl up and cuddle in the afterglow. I soon found that his cock had not gone soft, because it poked me in the thigh.

“Edward, did you- didn't you come?” I bit my lip, worried that I had missed something.

“Lord, yes, Bella. It’s not the same for me. I could stay this way for hours, especially if I am still aroused.” He pulled my lip from the prison of my teeth. “Which I always am around you.”

“Oh!” This was a novelty, then. I could have my wicked way with him over, and over, and-

“What are you thinking, love?”

“That I want round two.” I pounced, throwing a leg over his hips.

“You will be the death of me, but what a way to go,” he quipped.

It was blissful to spend hours wrapped up in his strong arms and forget about our troubles. Nobody was telling us what we could or couldn't do. There were no rules and no treaty lines, there was just the two of us.

Somewhere during our third go-around, when I had lost count of the number of orgasms Edward had coaxed out of my pliant body, lightning pierced the sky as I screamed out my lover’s name. Thunder rolled overhead, as Edward buried himself in the warm heat he had recently devoured. He’d discovered he needed one thing other than blood to sustain him, and that was the “sweet taste of his Bella”.

Electricity ran in currents over my skin, and I felt the answering call of the wolf as I struggled to maintain my sanity. There could be nothing worse than shifting while Edward was above me, while we were so intimately connected. I was mindless in my pleasure, and brought ruthlessly back to reality at the thought of the impending change.

Rain, sudden and heavy, dragged a laugh straight out of my gut. Edward leaned down and captured my smiling mouth with his lips, laughing with me as he cradled me closely. The feeling had passed, and I knew we were safe for now, well, other than the downpour.

“It was almost perfect, wasn't it?” I asked on a laugh.

“No, Bella, it was perfect.” He kissed the tip of my nose, not letting the rain distract him from his goal. My laughter turned to a groan as he sped up, moving unnaturally fast and finishing what he’d started. He came with a clap of thunder loud enough to shake the surrounding trees. I was in complete awe of the man and the elements, as they seemed to be one and the same in that instant.

I didn’t want to let him go, didn't want to go home and spend the rest of what remained of the night in my cold bed. Inspired, I jumped up and grabbed his hand, gathering our discarded clothes and the wet blanket, racing with him toward the edge of the sea. There was an alcove in the rocks that faced the churning water, tucked under the cliffs the boys liked to jump off. It was very near the water, where sand and rock disappeared into murky waves. The rain was so heavy it had taken on the illusion of ink falling from the tormented black sky. The moon was obscured by thunderclouds, making our heightened vision a blessing and a necessity. The cliffs that rose high were covered in lichen, looming in front of us as I towed him across the wet sand to the spot where the rocks cracked and allowed a hollow spot to create a temporary shelter.

“It’s too bad I never paid attention when the others tried to teach me how to light a fire,” I said ruefully as we looked around the empty space that kept the rain at bay.

“All of the wood is waterlogged anyway,” he pointed out.

“True,” I agreed as I spread the blanket out in hopes of letting it dry. It had been exhilarating to run naked in the rain, but now I wanted to dry off and be comfortable. Of course, it didn't look like that was going to happen in this cold and windy hideaway.

Edward came up behind me, placing his lips along my upper back. I shivered, knowing it was not from the cold. “Will you sleep?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I breathed as his hands found my hips and pulled me against him. “Later.”

It was effortless as breathing to be with him again, surprising to say the least when he lifted me up a few inches and slid me down on his cock. Standing in the middle of the little cave, practically folded over on myself as he worked me from behind, I couldn't remember any of the reasons I was supposed to be wary of vampires.

And when the rain finally abated, and my vampire carefully carried me home, I was grateful for the night we’d shared. Standing in the treeline, he gave my forehead a tender kiss goodbye, both of us oblivious for once to the way the very foundation of our world could be rocked.